OPINION PIECE ~ Stephen Joseph Harper is a Coward!

IMO

YES. In my opinion, he has always been a coward. He will remain a coward. He needs to start actually hearing actual LOUD CRITICISM  from those with a voice. And we have to speak while we still have a voice. We need to tell Canada that a coward is just not good enough to lead a country of brave citizens. 

S.O.S.

 This 88 year old Canadian had No trouble speaking her mind during the last election when Harper was "promising" to help Seniors. She saw right through it.  

I weigh in at CBC on line ~ Question of the day ~ Will this affect you?

TTSM ~ Comment at CBC.ca Question of the Day. 

And to get that Louder message out there we Canadians have to be seen as a lot more brave than we have been in the past. We need to move out past Facebook and Twitter and be active all over the virtual world, and be heard in the real world much more often and much more Loudly than most Canadians now are.


                                                  

 

A few days ago, Mr. Harper spent a few uncomfortable hours forcing himself to spend an entire business day listening to First Nations Leaders. He gave no idea of any policy changes, nor was anything at all decided during those very short 'meetings'. He had managed to tell the world a few days prior to this conference that he was not sure if he would be able to spend the whole day. That he is a very busy man with a country to 'run' (a more honest word is ruin) and that the First Nations Leaders could always talk to their Conservative MPs.

Not only is it generally impossible to get any face time with those so-called Conservatives in his caucus, but what would be the point? They do not answer questions. They do not offer solutions. I don't think they have any answers. They do not represent a solution. They are no braver than Mr. Harper.

He has yet again, successfully kicked the can down the road a ways. He has for now, just by being his usual slippery self, managed to put off the looming questions over such huge issues as First Nations; education, property rights, mineral rights, health care, drinking water, housing, etc. etc. etc.

He has again pulled the wool over our eyes, this time by focusing the Main Stream Media attention on his attendance at the First Nations Conference, and only on his attendance, and asking nothing of him at all. They all agreed that he had put in a full six hour day and literally told us that we should be as pleased as punch that this man had actually been there.

For reasons that simply do not add up, they have given him yet another day-pass and allowed him to run well actually to fly away in opulent luxury to the 2012 World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland where he spoke yesterday. He should be held responsible for his sinking of the Kelowna Accord and his complete snow job on the Attawapiskat crisis. 

The Cowardly Lyin' Narcissist 

AT DAVOS he spoke briefly about how he has been Canada's saviour and how he represents Canada's strength. He literally lectured the rest of the world on how they should have done what Canada has done to stave off the current deep downturn in the economy.

Once again though he failed to give the credit to those who deserve it. He is not the reason for canada's relative stability. He inherited it from the Liberals and had it been up to him, none of the safeguards that are in play in our banking system would still be in place. In My opinion, he is a fraud as an economist, and he is a fraud as a leader. And that my friends is an opinion that is becoming more widely held. It is about time.

Harper speaks at Davos Switzerland 

 

He was, as you can see above, unable to stick to the theme of the conference and having in his own mind, made himself look like a hero, he turned his attention homeward and took the time to make a statement or two that can only have been directed at those of us back in Harper Land. His words were a shock to most of us. He spoke about his new plans (again with absolutely no details) to tamper with Canada's Old age supplements and as rumour has it, also our age of eligibility. He likes to talk to us from a safe distance. It is the mark of a coward after all.

How Secure is HIS Pension?

If this development worries you, 
this Petition is to be presented
in the next session of Parliament
which opens Monday, Jan, 30th, 2012.

For more information on Harper's habit of hiding, see my previous blog, further down this page. 

Stephen Harper Missing in Action Again ~ Skips First Minister's Conference on Health Care   

Blink and You will Miss him!

Stephen Harper Missing in Action Again ~ Skips First Minister's Conference on Health Care

This is Nothing New!

Harper Has Been Ducking Issue After Issue
For Over 15 Years. 

The latest odd incident in the story of his abandonment of Health Care which came to a head  this past weekend. He failed to show up or even send a representative to the first ministers meetings in Victoria, B.C.

Last month, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty enraged premiers from Manitoba east (now only the Alberta Premier is is on board) with what some described as a take-it-or-leave-it plan. The scheme calls for current spending levels of six per cent annually until 2017, followed by increases tied to the rate of economic growth. 

Those increases are expected to be about four per cent annually, but Flaherty said they will never drop below three per cent.

But this is not all about money. The conference has Always been a way to bring the leaders of all 14 governmental levels to the table and Never before has a Prime minister had the nerve to miss one. 

It seems the federal government intends to limit its role to signing blank cheques with no strings attached and no accountability. If rumours on the Hill are true, once the current arrangement expires Harper may replace cash transfers entirely with tax credits. 

The Harper Government has set in motion a strategy that will quite possibly lead to the unravelling of Canada's national health system. All Harper has to do is nothing. By abdicating the essential federal responsibilities in health care, the system will fragment on its own into 14 separate pieces. One also must keep in mind that the Federal Government only supplies 20% of Health care funding (down from 50% over the last 30 years or so) and that means that the 6% represents only a 1.2% increase in overall funding.

Couple that with the yet unknown costs of the omnibus crime bill (most of which are to be passed off to the provinces and territories) and the cost of the Harper Governments eventual purchase of 65 F35 stealth fighters, which some estimate will cost up to $60 Billion and uncertainty abounds.  

It is not just the Prime Minister who is in hiding. The Minister of health is silent and all the costs above are basically unknown as well. Harper hides and he hides all the numbers while he does so.  

Google: Stephen Harper No-Show!

$10 Says he is Also ^NOT in Attawapiskat

Harper doesn't fool anyone when he pretends to be an economist.

A Master of Disguise
and  deceit, he's considered more elusive than most other weasels.

See if you can spot him hidden in this candid picture.

Here he is having a little Halloween fun and has disguised himself, in a well rehearsed "I'm a human"  Costume, dressing up as a second rate economist on Halloween.

What a sense of humour, eh? Stephen Harper? An Economist? Seriously?

Who would ever fall for a trick like that?

   Google: Stephen Harper Missing in Action

Harper Makes a Donut Run

Misses Keynote UN Speech

So, where was he again? 

He WAS Under a Lot of Pressure to Do so....

Do You Remember 

Harper's Surprise Proroguation 

to Avoid the Afghan Detainee Questions

He 'said' He "Needed Time" to Re-calibrate 
But 
Where WAS He Really? 

He was at the Vancouver Olympics 
Strutting Around, Posing for Staged Photo Opps 
 Pretending that Everything was OK and 
Hoping that WE Would Forget His Cowardice.

Do You Remember His Contempt for Canada?

And he is Still our Prime Minister?
How in Hell Does He Get Away With Any of It?



This Just In:
 

Help Unseat this Idiot

The Mayor of London Ontario Agrees!
He Tells Harper to get his Ass down there!

Canada's Liberals Vow to Legalize Pot ~ Bob Rae Weighs In

"Let's Face Up to it Canada! 

The War on Drugs Has Been a Complete Bust" 

~ Bob Rae

The Liberal Party of Canada has finally resolved to legalize pot.

Huffington Post Canada ~ Participate in Poll or Read More

Over seventy-seven per cent of delegates at the Liberals' biennial convention in Ottawa in a vote that can only be described as overwhelming, told their party's leadership Sunday morning that they want a future Liberal government to legalize marijuana. That number is fairly consistent with any poll taken anywhere in Canada. Canadians are tired of the war on drugs and many are worried about Bill C-10 now part of the Harper Government's War on Pragmatism.

Their interim leader Bob Rae acknowledged the war on drugs hasn’t worked, but told reporters the party's caucus would have to study the implications of the resolution.

"Frankly, the status quo doesn't work and that's what needs to change,” Rae said. “The Liberal party is saying that the current laws do not work and that we need a new direction.”

“It’s now up to us to take that resolution and see exactly what it will mean in terms of policy, because there are some practical questions that we have to look at,” Rae added, saying in French that one such issue would be how to control the supply of legalized pot.

Rae insisted he was completely at ease defending the principles of the resolution and that he would work with the membership on the issue in the months and years ahead as the party drafts its next election platform.

“I accept that it is the will of the party that was expressed today and we will continue to work together,” ~ Rae 

And in his Closing Remarks, he added:

"Now that we have decided to legalize Marijuana,

We Will Be Even Happier!"

I am lucky enough to have met Bob Rae in person, and had a quiet moment or two with him during the last Election Campaign in Moncton N.B. and I have to admit that at that meeting, the subjects of Crime, Harper's War on Pragmatism, and the War on Drugs all came up. I told him that I was also against Harper's War on Canada. I told him that I wanted to launch a "War on Stupid", and We had a Great laugh!


You see, he has a wonderful sense of humour and besides, he already knew that I had the Government of Harper Land squarely in my sights. I mean seriously, They mess up almost every day and  had already seen the Back of that nice shirt! Lol!

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Do You Need a Little More Convincing?

Even this Conservative American Judge has Figured it Out.



Surprise!  
A Majority of Canadians Agree!

"The prohibition and a 40-year-long “War on Drugs” have led to pot being more widely accessible, taxpayers considerably poorer, gangs richer and thousands upon thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens branded “criminal.”

Another 50,000 or so Canadians are busted every year for possession; throw in 20,000 or so traffickers and producers and this so-called war is costing us as much as $400 million annually in law enforcement, court and corrections.

Bearing in mind that a million dollars a year buys roughly 12 new cops, 14 teachers or public health nurses, ask yourself: Couldn’t all that money be better spent? "         ~ READ MORE:

UPDATE: Harper Government Drops Environmental Ball Again! <>JOE OLIVER CREATES 200,000 More RADICALS<>

NOW ON ALL CHANNELS!

JOE OLIVER 
INSTANTLY CREATES
200,000 RADICALS!

CBC.ca

Environmental and other "Radical Groups" are trying to block trade and undermine Canada's economy, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said Monday.

Oliver's comments come one day before federal regulatory hearings begin on whether to approve Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline, to deliver crude from Alberta's oil sands to Kitimat, B.C., for shipment to Asia. ~ More than 4,300 people have signed up to address the proposed pipeline over the next 18 months.

"Unfortunately, there are environmental and other radical groups that would seek to block this opportunity to diversify our trade," Oliver said in an open letter. "Their goal is to stop any major project no matter what the cost to Canadian families in lost jobs and economic growth. No forestry. No mining. No oil. No gas. No more hydro-electric dams."


Oliver says the groups "threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda," stack the hearings with people to delay or kill "good projects," attract "jet-setting" celebrities and use funding from "foreign special interest groups."

Join this conversation in progress on Facebook!

Windsor Live  @Twain ~ Here's something for ya to ponder as you work the blog.

"Why does the Harper Government feel it is OK to intervene in the affairs of other nations such as dictating economic policy and austerity measures that would affect millions of Europeans and bombing Libya to assassinate the head of state resulting in major civilian casualties in the thousands? Not to mention the additional economic sanctions against Syria and the economic sanctions against Iran to impose regime change.

PLUS his recent threat directed towards the US Administration that said the Harper Regime would gladly "sell" their tar sand oil to China if the US didn't want it..."

Twain @Windsor Live: ~ Well, Windsor Live, as a reasonable man who loves Canada, I'd have to say that he has a double standard, among other issues. He does dabble in everything and then cry like a whiny school-yard bully when someone not in Canada tries to influence our environmental outcomes.

As a Radical, I would add that: He Is Clearly Insane!

Here is the kind of 

'Radical Thinking' 

being Foisted upon Us by
Radical Environmentalists!

 

 UK

Oil Sands Pipeline Battle Turns Ugly

In an open letter defending a controversial project, Canada's natural resources minister accuses a pipeline's opponents of colluding with 'radicals' and 'jet-setting celebrities'

"Canada (*meaning the Harper Government) let loose an extraordinary rant against opponents of a controversial project to pump tar sands crude to Pacific Coast ports on Monday, accusing campaigners of colluding with foreign "radicals" and "jet-setting celebrities" to hijack the government.

The diatribe, which came as an open letter from the natural resources minister Joe Oliver, caused a furore in Canada.

It was seen as a sign of the conservative government's frustration at growing opposition to its efforts to find global markets for its vast reserves of tar sands crude, a type of petroleum deposit found in large quantities in Canada.

Opponents of the project object to over-turning a decades-old moratorium on oil tanker traffic on the British Columbia coastline, running a pipeline through British Columbia's northern wilderness, and sending jobs out of the country".

And, Yes Joe!
There are Some Well Known Voices!

Opposed to the Mega Project

And according to Joe Oliver, that is just not fair, even though we all know that they would be doing the same thing if they could get anyone as well respected as Robert Redford to take their side in the issue. And Again, I remind you that they as the government are supposed to be on our side, and they have obligations to us and not these huge corporations. And even then I will settle for their neutrality, which is my own pipe dream and is not on their agenda.

More From Those Pesky Radicals

David Suzuki ~ In response to Joe Oliver:

The Sierra Club vs. Ethical Oil

 

Alice Klein On the Real Foreign Money 
Behind the Gateway Pipeline
"Has he gone too far this time? Prime Minister Stephen Harper has shown many times over that he has little regard for democracy. I mean, how did we learn to spell the word “prorogue”?
The long record is too wearisome to recount, but the ominous new attack on opponents of the Northern Gateway pipeline has opened a front in his battle against civil society that makes you wonder. Now that we’re watching the 1 per cent more closely, will the times still be on Harper’s side?
Thousands of citizens are in the queue to give deputations at the ........ " Read More:

Bob Rae Slams PM for Discrediting Critics

Intimidating opponents by calling them radicals, anti-Canadian, interferes with environmental process, he says:

"I think it is inappropriate for a minister or a prime minister to interfere and intervene and frankly to intimidate an environmental process as it would be to interfere or intervene in a court case," Rae told reporters at a news conference to announce that rookie Quebec MP Lise St-Denis has jumped from the New Democratic Party to the Liberals.

The Harper government, according to Rae, doesn't understand the limits of its authority and "does not understand the rule of law. It does not respect due process."

Rae also said environmental groups are effectively being threatened with loss of their organization's charitable status. The government has long maintained that it respects the NEB process and that the recent comments aren't directed at the NEB hearings. ~ Read More:

  Kennedy Stewart, MP Burnaby-Douglas

“New Democrats believe there is a very different way forward for Canada. We believe all major energy projects should be subject to proper benefit/cost analysis. For example, the oil sands are one of our most precious resources. We should not rush to development just to ship unrefined crude oil to China when Canadians import over 200,000 barrels per day of oil from Europe and the Middle-East. Instead we should focus on our own energy security, making sure we maximize national revenues by refining the oil we need within our own borders.
Perhaps more importantly, we believe government should use deeply participatory processes to build national plans for housing, transportation, employment, energy and other essential policy areas. These processes should be the antithesis of the top-down, back-room deals made by the Conservatives. They would also ensure we move forward together as a country and policy benefits the many rather than the few.” 

Read More

 This from:

Tar Sands Pipeline Critics 

Hit Back at 'Radical' Claims Read More: 

This from:

By Jorge Barrera ~ APTN National News

"The Harper government is “sidestepping” the country’s most potent opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline by instead targeting a “boogeyman” in hopes of scaring up public support, says a First Nation chief who is part of a coalition that has pledged to stop the project at all cost.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver have both publicly claimed that American interests opposing the $5.5 billion pipeline project are trying to “hijack” the project in Canada by funding environmental groups in the country."  ~  Read More:
The Hearings ~ DAY ONE

This Unbelievably is also from Day One:

60 Environment Canada Scientists and other Researchers
 Given their Notice

OTTAWA citizen — Environment Canada is sending notices to 60 scientists and other researchers 

that their jobs are being declared surplus.

"Gary Corbett, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, confirmed his union was notified by the department that surplus notices would be going out this week. They are fallout from the department's announcement last August that it would be cutting or reassigning 776 people — which is about 10 per cent of the workforce.

But Corbett said the department is under "strict orders" not to reveal precisely what work these surplus scientists are doing. They broadly include engineers, scientists, biologists, climatologists, chemical analysts from across the country. They work in areas such as pollution, monitoring water quality, climate research.

 "This exercise is all about money and a government obsessed with the bottom line," said Corbett: "While the government pays lip service to protecting the interests of all Canadians, it continues to target science-based departments, the front line, when it comes to protecting our environment and health of our citizens," he said. " Read more: 


Elizabeth May To Joe Oliver

By ~ Elizabeth May on 9 January 2012 - 3:10pm

Dear Joe,

Your letter caught my attention.  I respect you and like you a lot as a colleague in the House.  Unfortunately, I think your role as Minister of Natural Resources has been hijacked by the PMO spin machine.  The PMO is, in turn, hijacked by the foreign oil lobby. You are, as Minister of Natural Resources, in a decision-making, judge-like role.  You should not have signed such a hyperbolic rant.

I have reproduced a short section of your letter. The idea that First Nations, conservation groups, and individuals opposed to the Northern Gateway pipeline are opposed to all forestry, mining, hydro-electric and gas is not supported by the facts.  I am one of those opposed to the Northern Gateway pipeline.  I do not oppose all development; neither does the Green Party; neither do environmental NGOS; neither do First Nations.

I oppose the Northern Gateway pipeline for a number of reasons, .... Read More

from the

 And Now it is My Turn to Weigh in:

The Government clearly needs to realise that it is their duty as the Government of this country to stay neutral during any environmental assessments. They seem to be on the verge of taking, by what seems a lot of force, in my opinion, control of the entire process and  openly lobby for the Oil industry at the same time. It seem that if left up to them, Canada’s Natural resources are to be doled out to their friends as Soon as Possible. It is enough to make me question the motive behind this zealous pursuit of Petro Dollars. It is almost as if they realise that they need to sell the damned stuff before it is obsolete. That is after all, their plan for Asbestos.

Good Government takes it’s time and gets it right! Good government would not have all of its ministers lobbying so openly and arrogantly for this project. It is Not supposed to be a Government project. It is supposedly a private sector affair. The Government’s only interest here has to be our interest. It has to be getting this Right!

And it is no secret that I want No one to pipe oil across the Rockies, not now, not ever.

I have less hope that the Athabasca Tar Sands itself will stop being exploited. Although I do believe that it too can be stopped, but certainly not right away. I like the Liberals approach, in that conserving it by not simply extracting it all in a greedy frenzy is the pragmatic alternative. They want to spread its lifeline out and slow it down to a controllable level of development. They actually had a Department called the Ministry of the Environment that was concerned about such things. The NDP wants it (generally) shut down entirely. Although they have weighed in (farther down the page) and in this instance they are also on the progressive track.

 I like the slow approach. With that in place, we will necessarily have no choice but to get out of the habit of using the stuff. As we develop new technologies and get them in place, we should soon need less of it, we could more easily see a time when we could stop it. We need to learn to profit along the way from the new developments instead of constantly fighting 
with our own citizens just to make a few men rich.

They insist that time is short, but anyone on the street can tell you that Slowing it down and prudent conservation requires NOT cutting another destructive path through the Rockies in order to fire up a lot of Chinese cars. 

The Rockies are one of the youngest Mountain Ranges on the planet. They have a long way to fall. They never stop moving. Do these guys not watch The Nature of Things?

The Conservative plan is Clearly insane. There is never anything pragmatic about a rising fascist star like Stephen Harper. Why burn all the oil? Because he is a nutter.

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